Yanin’s Story

Yanin joined New Moms’ family support program when her son, Mateo, was four months old. She was referred to by her Doula at Advocate Health Care and was paired up with Family Support Specialist Ayeshah.

She said she loves her weekly home visits because Ayeshah has taken the time to get to know her and Mateo – even remembering that Mateo has acid reflux and tailoring parent-child activities specifically for him. Yanin said the best part about the Family Support program is that it has helped her bond with her son.

“The program helps me get closer to him,” said Yanin, who is 21 years old. “Because some days being so busy with school and coming home to take care of him, sometimes it makes me feel a little distant not only from him but just everyone. And I feel like New Moms just helps me get out of that and be there for my son more.”

Recently, Yanin and Ayeshah have been working on how to introduce race to Mateo and reflecting on Yanin’s own feelings about race and racial injustice.

“Mateo is African American and Puerto Rican so that’s why it’s so important to have those conversations,” Yanin said.

Through her time with New Moms, Yanin has realized not to be so hard on herself when it comes to her role as a mother.

“I learned that I’m a good mom,” Yanin said. “Because you feel like you have to do everything perfect, but you know sometimes you are going to have bad days with the baby. Sometimes you are going to get frustrated and that’s okay.”

She said Ayeshah has shown her how to calm herself in those moments and helped her find ways to calm Mateo down when he’s throwing one of his tantrums.

Right now, Yanin is finishing courses at an esthetician school and said she enjoys what she’s learning because every day brings something new like full facials, laser treatments, or waxing. Once she finishes school, her goal is to start her own business.

To other moms thinking about joining a New Moms program, Yanin said would “absolutely” recommend it.

“It’s such a fun program! But you’re not only doing this for fun you’re getting rewarded at the same time – through the diaper program and the support packages they give every month. Yeah, it’s just amazing. It helps you bond with your baby especially as a young mother. Because life is different when you’re very young and you don’t have a lot of responsibilities. It teaches you to be responsible for you and your baby. I like it a lot. I didn’t even know they had programs like this.”